Anthony Torres, SF activist known as Bubbles, shot to death in Tenderloin

Anthony Torres, also known as 'Bubbles,' was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle's 'City Exposed' column.

Media: Mike Kepka / The Chronicle

San Francisco activist, artist and DJ Anthony Torres, who was best known by his gender-nonconforming alter ego, Bubbles, was fatally shot early Saturday morning, according to his attorney and friends.

Torres, 44, was a fixture in the San Francisco club scene, regularly DJing house parties, marches and events. He was shot and killed Saturday at around 3 a.m. on the corner of Larkin and Myrtle streets in the Tenderloin, his attorney said.

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A preliminary report from San Francisco police said a 30-year-old female was shot around 2:50 a.m. near Larkin and Myrtle streets and pronounced dead at a hospital. A police spokesman could not confirm the identify of the victim or say why the age and sex did not fit with Torres, but said it was the city’s only homicide over the weekend.

Torres came up with the idea for Bubbles more than two decades ago, not long after relocating to San Francisco from Phoenix. According to a Facebook post by one of Torres’ friends, Bubbles’ signature style included blond wigs, slinky dresses and oversize sunglasses.

“In San Francisco you can get away with doing this. It’s an escape from every mundane day, and San Francisco allows me to do that,” Torres told The Chronicle in 2012, in a profile for The City Exposed feature. “Bubbles is like a toy, in a way.”

In the same interview, Torres described himself as a fairly quiet, reserved person and said Bubbles brought out the entertainer in him.

Longtime friend Traci Huston said Torres found his family in San Francisco but was planning a new chapter in life — possibly even a move out of the country.

“He was a gay man who loved being the personality Bubbles,” Huston said in an email. “He started out looking for love, settled for fame.”

No suspect information was available, and preliminary information did not indicate the homicide was a hate crime, police said. No further details about the shooting were immediately available Sunday.